How to Cut Down on Product Returns and Refunds

To ensure that you never miss an issue, please whitelist our email. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.

Issue No. 3152 - $1.00 Home Archives Contact Us Privacy Policy

Wednesday December 22, 2010

From The Editor: Until recently, a Ferrari dealership in Scottsdale, Arizona had a used 2009 Scuderia Spider for sale. The car had only 438 miles on it when the previous owner turned it in. One of the finest automobiles in the world, and the guy barely drove it! What does this have to do with information marketing? Plenty. Everyone knows Ferrari. The provenance. The powerful engine. The prancing horse. But someone plunked down over $300,000 for one and after a few miles decided "Ehh, it's not for me." This happens all the time. People make a purchase and, for whatever reason, decide to return it. Today, Bob Bly explains why, despite your best efforts, there will always be customers who are going to want their money back. Still, there are ways to reduce refund requests to a bare minimum. "Even if you have the empathy and the passion and you address the customer's problem, you haven't really given good customer service in total. You haven't done that until you have eliminated the problem that caused her to call in the first place." Charles Fishman How to Cut Down on Product Returns and Refunds By Bob Bly It's every Internet marketer's dirty little secret: We hate product returns and refund requests! As my colleague FG puts it: "I hate seeing the UPS man coming the wrong way!" It's not so much the money, although we don't enjoy giving money back. It's that we take the rejection of our information products personally, as a rejection of us and our work. Every time a book is returned to one of the largest mail-order book publishers, the CEO complains: "Why are they returning this? It's a GREAT book!" California girl accidentally discovers $6 billion "Internet Goldmine" Southern California native Valerie Johnson was simply shopping for pajamas online one day. And then... strictly by chance... she stumbled upon a rather unusual website. Most people have never heard of it. Not even most seasoned online entrepreneurs. But Valerie found it. And it changed her life forever. Today... thanks largely to the $6 billion "Internet Goldmine" Valerie discovered, she can work from home, call her own shots, and live life completely on her own terms. What's more, her online business brought in close to $2 million in recession-slammed 2009! Here's Valerie's story... PLUS a way for YOU to master the exact same website that helped her become a seven-figure online entrepreneur. Find out more. But a product can be great and still be returned for refund for a variety of reasons: 1. The product does not present the content the buyer expected. Every once in a while, for example, someone returns my copywriting course because they were really looking for instructions on copyrighting, not copywriting. 2. The product is in the wrong medium for the customer. Though clearly stated that my written info products are e-books, people will order and then complain that they got an e-book instead of a printed book. 3. The product is too basic. The buyer may listen to, watch, or read your info product, only to discover that he already knows everything in it. In that case, he may legitimately want to return it for a refund. 4. The product is too advanced. Some of your information products may be beyond some buyers' understanding because the material is advanced and the customer is a beginner. This is another case where he may legitimately want to return it for a refund. 5. The product is worth the purchase price -- but no more than that. Believe it or not, I've had products returned with notes that said, "This product is worth the price you charge, but not more than that." And yet, the buyer was dissatisfied enough to return it for refund! The truth is that in today's business world, it's not enough to give the customer her money's worth. You have to give her MORE than her money's worth. 6. The customer decides not to pursue the course of action laid out by the product. Most how-to information products help people reach a certain goal -- e.g., to start a new career or get involved in a new hobby. After reviewing your info product, some buyers may decide that the career or hobby (or whatever) is simply not for them, for any number of reasons. In such a case, they will almost surely want to return the info product for a refund. 7. You sell an inferior product. The sad truth is that a lot of self-published information products produced by independent entrepreneurs are of questionable quality. A book published by a mainstream publishing house is edited by a professional editor. But many e-books are not edited at all. If your information is sketchy, difficult to understand, or technically inaccurate... or your instructions are unclear or hard to follow... expect lots of returns and refund requests. As a rule of thumb, your refund rate should be less than 10% and ideally less than 5%. These numbers tend to increase in a shaky economy, such as the one we're suffering through now. Okay. So now that you know the reasons for product returns, here are some actions you can take to reduce your refund rates: Describe the product accurately on your sales page. When the sales copy correctly describes the product, customers are more satisfied when they receive it. Highlight and clarify information on your sales page that commonly confuses customers. For example, I find I get fewer refund requests if I repeat several times the fact that my written info products are e-books and not printed books. Update your information products frequently -- at least once a year. If the customer sees a 2005 copyright date in 2011, he'll automatically assume that your product is out of date, even if it is not. Control the hype. All sales copy has hype to some degree. But customers will be disappointed if you over-promise and under-deliver. It's far better to under-promise and over-deliver. Make sure every information product you create is worth at least 10 times the price you charge for it. Don't just tell the customer how to do something, motivate him to do it -- and the perfect place to do that is in the introduction to your info product. You want him to believe he can accomplish what your product teaches. And you want him to be eager to learn it. For more information on selling information products on the Internet, see my e-book, "Writing E-Books for Fun and Profit." Click here for details: www.myveryfirstebook.com. [Ed. Note: If you are looking to start an online business to capitalize on your professional experience but aren't sure where to start, we have the answer you are looking for. The Internet Money Club was designed to teach anyone, regardless of past experience (in business or online) how to start and grow their own profitable Internet business. You'll learn about e-mail list building, product and content creation, joint ventures and affiliate marketing, copywriting, and much more. But you must hurry. Once 250 new members sign up, the IMC will be closed for another year. So don't wait. Check it out here right now. Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter and the author of more than 70 books. To subscribe to his free e-zine, The Direct Response Letter, and claim your free gift worth $116, click here now.] "Complete newbie" at Internet business building finds a way to bring in profits in just 90 days! How did she do it? And how can YOU enjoy similar success... no matter what your experience may be right now? It is called the Internet Money Club, and a limited number of spaces just opened up. Click here to learn more... but you must act fast. Once those spots are gone, the door to the IMC closes for another year. "This year's conference BLEW MY SOCKS OFF again." I just had to tell you what a LIFE CHANGING experience it was to attend ETR's Info-Marketing Bootcamp for the second year in a row. I thought I knew what to expect from Bootcamp this year because I had attended last year... because you and the ETR family are committed to giving each customer MORE THAN THEY COULD HAVE DREAMED of to equip them for SUCCESS... This year's conference BLEW MY SOCKS OFF again. Thank you for being amazing people with the willingness to share those gifts with others... I will be there to be CHANGED again next year and WILL have my own business growing... (with your help, of course)! John Marsh Don't Even Think of Starting a Business Until You've Read This Book Brian Tracy calls Michael Masterson's Ready, Fire, Aim "an extraordinary book -- full of practiced, proven strategies and techniques to help you make more sales and greater profits than you ever imagined possible." And Robert Ringer says, "What sets Masterson apart from most of the gurus who write about how to do it is that he's actually done it -- over... and over... and over again." Find out just what Michael is saying in his New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller here.. Today's Words That Work: Cynosure A Cynosure  (SIE-nuh-shoor) -- from Kynosoura, the Greek name for the constellation Ursa Minor -- is a person or thing that is the center of attention or admiration. Example (as used by Anthony Lane in a New Yorker review of the movie "The Fighter"): "[Mickey] is the cynosure of his mother's eye. 'All we ever wanted for you was to be world champion,' she tells him. No pressure there."

Whitelist Our Email   |   Click Here to Unsubscribe   |   Customer Service

We want your feedback! Let us know your thoughts on today's issue. Email us at: AskETR@ETRFeedback.com Copyright © 2010 Early to Rise, LLC. NOTE: If URLs do not appear as live links in your e-mail program, please cut and paste the full URL into the location or address field of your browser. Disclaimer: Early to Rise only recommends products that we've either personally checked out ourselves, or that come from people we know and trust. For doing so, we receive a commission. We will never recommend any product that does not have a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee. Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized Financial Advice. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized Financial Advice. We expressly forbid our writers from having a financial interest in any security recommended to our readers. All of our employees and agents must wait 24 hours after on-line publication or 72 hours after the mailing of printed-only publication prior to following an initial recommendation. Any investments recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company. To unsubscribe from Early to Rise and any associated external offers, Click here. To contact us, please visit... http://www.supportatetr.com/helpdesk To cancel or for any other subscription issues, write us at: Order Processing Center Attn: Customer Service PO Box 7835 Delray Beach, Florida 33482